It's mid-January and the slow entertainment schedule shows it. But there are still fun things to do, like attend the musical "Million Dollar Quartet" at Proctors. The show imagines what might have taken place at a meeting of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins at Sun Studios in 1956.

Keep on truckin'

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Another monster event is at the Times Union Center -- the Monster Jam Thunder Nationals is in Albany Friday and Saturday. Names of vehicles like Predator, Backdraft and Eradicator will give you an idea what to expect at the event at 7:30 p.m. both days. Call (518) 487-2000 or go to www.timesunioncenter-albany.com.

Music

o The Egg has its own monster entertainment weekend. On Friday, Jesse Cook, the master guitarist from Canada, performs at 8 p.m. Comic Bruce Bruce canceled his Friday appearance at the Egg, but finishing a weekend of fun is the saxophone great Joe Lovano and his Us Five. He performs at 7:30 Saturday evening. Tickets and information are available at (518) 473-1845.

o Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs is another venue that is continuously offering diverse talent. This weekend it has the folk trio Brother Sun on Friday. You have to love a group whose music has been described as "warm as a campfire, stirring as a gospel church and as rousing as a call to arms." If the lyrics to their songs are this evocative, it should be a great evening. The show starts at 8 p.m. They will followed at 8 p.m. Saturday by the popular local performer Frank Jaklitsch (and Friends). At a Jaklitsch performance, expect a lot of laughter, sing-alongs and songs that make you think. The theme of his show is emigration and immigration. I'm thinking already.

On Sunday at 7 p.m., Pierce and Grace Pettis perform at the caffè. His songs range from delicate folk to hard-driving blues. The topics of his songs are personal, political and spiritual. He'll be performing with his daughter, so it should be a special event.

o Another Saratoga Springs event this weekend is the return of local musician George Fletcher. Fletcher, who is one half of the popular duo Tequila Mockingbirds, has been out of circulation the past several weeks. But it's welcome back time as his "big band" Foldin' Money (four members) plays at Saratoga City Tavern at 9 p.m. Saturday.

o Last weekend, Yo-Yo Ma played with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. The growing fame of the ASO tends to overshadow the fact that the area has other excellent orchestras. On Sunday, the Schenectady Symphony offers a fun program titled "Everyone Loves Italian" at Proctors Theatre, 432 State St. The title likely comes from the Mendelssohn work "Italian," which is on the program. Also on the program Mozart's Symphony No. 35, and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, performed by Tom Gerbino. The performance is at 3 p.m. For tickets, call (518) 346-6204.

Activist/artist exhibit

This quiet time at many entertainment venues makes it an ideal time to visit a museum. On Saturday, the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs opens a new exhibit, "Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent."

This is the first major museum show to survey her entire career. Best known as an iconic printmaker, she was enormously popular and influential during the 1960s and '70s. Her work asked questions about war, racism and poverty -- even linking them. She was an artist-activist and her work still has resonance.

The Tang show will feature more than 200 pieces of her work, including early narrative works and watercolors that she created late in life. It is at the Tang through July 28.